Water quality monitoring is necessary in many fields for numerous applications, especially if the water is to be used in applications requiring ultra pure water, such as water for the processing of semiconductor chips, coolant water for the nuclear power industry, and water used in pharmaceutical products.
One conventional means for assessing water quality is a total organic carbon (TOC) and a total inorganic carbon (TIC) analysis. This analytical procedure requires adjusting the aqueous sample pH to below 3 in order to convert major sources of inorganic carbon, carbonate and bicarbonate ions, to carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is purged from the sample with an inert gas, dried, and sent to a calibrated non-dispersive infrared analyzer (NDIR) for carbon dioxide analysis. The total inorganic carbon in the aqueous sample is related to the carbon dioxide content which is measured by the NDIR analyzer.
Once the inorganic carbon has been removed from the sample, the organic carbon is oxidized in the presence of an oxidant and UV radiation, again forming carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide, as with the TIC carbon dioxide is purged, dried, and measured by the NDIR analyzer.
This process, although effective, is incapable of operating in a zero gravity environment (hereafter referred to as zero gravity compatibility) due to the presence of the two phases, liquid and gas. Therefore, what is needed in the art is a zero gravity compatible total organic and inorganic carbon analysis process and apparatus.